Coin-controlled operating mechanism for vending apparatus.



' E. X. somms. j v COIN CONTROLLED OPERATING MECHANISM FOR VENDING APPARATUS.

APPLIUATION FILED AUG. 16; 1907. fifi Patented 0013.6,1908.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

-- WIT/9555125 xii 54% ai wa [NVE/VTOR" 00m CONTROLLED OPERATING mncmmsm r011 VENDING APPARATUS. v APPLIUATION FILED AUG. 16, 1907- 900,224, Patented Oct. 6, 1908.

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WL T" E5553 I I VVJENTOR B. x'. saunas. COIN GOR'IBOLLED OPERATING MECHANISM FOR VENDING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.16, 1907.

Patented Oct. 6, 1908.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

. JNVENTOR State of PATENT onni'on EVERETT X. SQMERS, OF ST. JOHNSBURY, VERMONT.

com-conrnonnnn OPERATING MCHANISM FOR VENDING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 6, 1908.

" A lication filed August 16, 1907. Serial N... 388,845. b

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EVERETT X. SoMERs, CIT/12811 of the United States; residing at St. Johnsbur'y, in the county of Caledonia and ermont, have invented new and useful improvements in Coin-Controlled Operatmg Mechanism for Vending Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention pertains to check or" coin-'- controliled mechanism 'desi'gned more particularly for use in combination with a paratus for vending newspapers and the like; and it hasfor its object to provide a simple and reliable mechanism of the kind stated and one adapted to be ex editiously and easily arranged to be control ed by checks or coins of difierent denominations.

Other objects and advantagedus features of the invention will be fully understood from the following description and claims when the same are read in connection with the drawings, accompanying and forming part of this Specification, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus constituting the preferred embodiment of my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical casing of the apparatus.

ments.

saidchute, showing the same as ad'nsted to .ass'ure control of the apparatus t ough a section of the apparatus. Fig. 3 is an enlarged, detail, vertical cross-section takenin a plane slightly in rearof the front wall of the apparatus casing, looking rearward. Fig. 4 is an enlarged, detail, vertical crosssection of the ap aratus taken in the plane indicated by the 'ne 44 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction indicated by the arrow. Fig. 5 is an enlarged, detail, vertical section taken at a right angle to Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is an enlarged, detail, vertical section illustrating the arrangement of the coin receptacle in the Fig. 7 is a detail broken section taken vertically at a right angle .to the front of the apparatus casmg an illustrati-n partments is guided in its vertical move- Fig. 8 is a detail horizontal section taken in the plane indicated by the line 8-8 of Fig. 7, looking downward. Fig. 9 is a. broken elevation showing the inner side of the said door. Fig. 19 is a detail perspective view showing thelower tuition of the coin chute, and also showin t e adjustment for shuntin coins of a-smal er size than that by which tie apparatus is des' 'ned to :be controlled. Fig. 11 .is-a vertica section of the manner in which the door for contro g the paper-holding com-- small coin. Fig. 12 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 13'is an elevation illustrative of a disk that may be used in lieu of the disk shown in Figs. 1 to 5 when theapparatus is to. be controlled through two successively deposited coins instead of one coin. Fig. 14 is a similar view of a disk that may be employed in lieu of the disk shown in Figs. 1 to 5 when the apparatus is to be controlled through three successively deposited coins instead of one coin. v

Referring'by letterto'the said drawings, and more particularly-to Figs. 1 to 12 thereof: A is the casing of my novel apparatus. The said casing is provided with horizontal partition walls a and.-b and with a chamber 0 for waste paper, located below said walls a and b;.'and it is also provided with one or more door-controlled openings d through which waste-pa er may be deposited in the charm her 0, an an opening e through which waste- .paper may be removed from the chamber 0. be opening 6 is formed in the front wall. of the chamber a, Fig. 2, and is normally clmed by a door B, hinged .at f to the front wa' of the casing A and designed to be retained is. a closed position by ordinary or other suitable locks, the key holes of which are lettered g in Fig. 1, this in order to prevent any but an authorizec person raising the door. B. On its front or outer side the door B carries a holder h designed to receive a card i an nouncing theedition on sale, and on its inner side said door is equippedv with props 7', notched at k whereby they are adapted to be engaged with the lower wall of the opening 6 so as to support the door B inthe horizontal position shown. by dotted lines in Fig. 2. In this latter position, the door, B may obvi ously be used to support a pile of papers precedent to the placing of the pa ers in the ap aratus.

isa sub-casin of less horizontal area than the casing A l edly secured in the upper portion of the latter. This sub-casing contains aplurality of compartments D which are arranged one above the other-and are 0 en at their forward'sides and are separate by walls I notched at m in order to permit of papers in the compartments being paper-receiving com artments D are exposed through an 0, ening in the front wall of the casinglt, an the said by a gravitating door best shown in Figs.

compartments hereinafter descri ed of the opening E is controlled grasped wlth' facility. The open fronts-of the latter in order that it may be conveniently raised to its uppermost or fully closed position. The vertical edges of the door F are guided in vertical ways 8 provided on the inner side of the front wall of the casing A,

and the door, which is preferably of sheetmetal, is provided on its inner side with wood strips 15 to serve as runners, and with metallic fixtures it which slide against guides 01 rovided at the inner side of the front wall or the casing. Thus it will be seen that in its down and up movements, the door F will be efliciently guided and will not be liable to bind.

G is a rack attached to the rear side of and movable with the door F.

H is a shaft journaled in suitable fixed bearings I; J, a spur gear fixed on the shaft H and intermeshed with the rack G; K, a disk fixed on the shaft H and having peripheral notches w arranged singly as best shown in Fig; 3; L, a trigger, fulcrumed at an intermediate point of its length and normally held by a weak spring M in osition to seat in one of the notches w of the isk K when the notch is presented to the trigger; N, a lever disposed at a right angle to the trigger L and fulcrumed at an intermediate point of its length; P, a link connecting one arm of the lever N and the arm of trigger L remote from the disk J; and R, a coin chute which re-- ceives in its lower portion, Figs. 3 and 4, that arm of the lever N remote from the trigger L. Thus it will be seen that when a coin drops down the chute R it will strike and depress the lever-arm therein contained and by so doing will rock the lever N so as to raise the outer arm of the trigger L against the action of the spring M, whereupon the disk J will be permitted to turn sufficiently far to carry the next notch 20 into engagement with 1 the trigger L, and the door F will be permitted to gravitate to a sufficient extent to uncover the front of one compartment D; After the coin depresses the arm of the .lever N as stated, the coin drops into a coin recep tacle S, presently described, and the spring M operates to return the inner arm of the trigger L to and hold it under pressure against the perimeter of the disk J ready to enter the next notch w of said disk when the notch is presented-to the trigger at the completion of the downward movement of the door F.

. The coin receptacle S is positioned on the partition wall a of'casing A and below the ower end of the chute R, and is rovided with a front wall (1 arranged when t e recep tacle is in its working position to rest flush with and be connected through a conventional or an other suitable look. 5 to the front wall 0 the casing A, It wiil also observed byjreference to Fig. 6 ti: the

:tus as thus far described, a paper is )laced in each of the compartments D wln e the door B is in the osition shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2, and the gravitating door F is in its lowermost osition. With this done the operator reac es through the opening 0 and with one hand holds the inner arm of the trigger L out of engagement with thetrigger K, while with his upper hand he raises the door F to its uppermost or entirely closed position. The operator then releases the trigger L to permit the same to engage one notch w of disk K, and closes and locks the door B, when the apparatus is ready for operation which is as follows: On the de osit of a coin in the chute R, the coin (ll'o s through the chute and after depressing tic outer arm of the lever N falls into the receptacle S. The depression of the outer arm of the said lever N effects the disengagement of trigger L from the disk K in the manner before described in detail, whereupon the disk K turns through the distance between two notches, and the door F drops sufliciently far to uncover the front of the uppermost compartment D, when. the party who deposited the coin is enabled to conveniently remove the paper from said compartment. This operation is repeated until the sup ly of papers in the compartments D is de feted, when the compartments D are again. 0 iarged with papers in the manner described.

In order that the apparatus may be controlled through either a small coin, a cent for instance, or a larger coin, a five-cent piece for instance, in the discretion of the party con trolling the apparatus, I construct the lower portion of the coin-chute R as shown in Figs.

10 to 12that is to say, I provide said chute in one of its side walls (1 with an opening 6 wider than a cent but not so wide as a fivecent piece, and I also provide a spring f and a door 9' hinged to the chute and arranged to control the opening e. The springf is con nected to the outer side of the'other side wall of the chute and extends through a slot 72 in said side wall and normally rests in the opening'e in the first mentioned side wall. The door 9 is provided on its inner side with a projection '5, Figs. 10 and 11, of a shape and size to fully occupy the opening when the door is closed; and the said door is preferably opened and held open by a spring Z which is coiled about the hinge pintle and has I A- .J inner side of a. .e doc:v u

The spring Z serves r 1' n the door in its i ii), and when sooner trolled by a larger coin than a cent, a iive cent piece for instance, this because if a cent is deposited in the chute R, it will be guided by the spring f through the opening e and laterally out of the chute R and hence will in no wise effect the mechanism that holds the disk K against rotation, and the door F against downward movement. It will be open and a nickel isv dropped into the chute R, said nickel being wider than the opening e will pass down the chute R and between the spring f and the opposed side of the chute and will act against the lever N in the manner and for the purpose before described.

It will be readily gathered from the foregoing that through the medium of the door g my novel apparatus may be quickly and easily arranged to be controlled by either a small coin or a large coin as occasion demands.

The disk K is removably arranged on the shaft H and is provided'with acentral aperture t to receive the shaft, and an offset a from said aperture to receive a radial projections on the shaft, this in order to key the disk on the shaft to assure the two rotating together. The disk K removably held on the shaft by a screw 'l, andhence it will be readily apparent that said disk may be easily and expeditiously removed and replaced with either the disk K shown in Fig. 13 or the disk K shown in Fig. 14. The disk K has its notches w arranged in pairs, while the disk K has its notches w? arranged in sets of three notches each. Thus it will b seen that when the disk K is employed in lieu of the disk K, two one-cent pieces or other coins must be deposited in succession in the chute R in order to release the disk from the trigger L and permit the disk to turn through the distance between two pairs of notches w, and the door F to drop, while when the disk I is employed instead of the others, three one-cent pieces or other coins must be deposited in succession in the chute R to release and permit rotation of the disk and fall of the door F. Vlhen the door B is in the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2, one type of disk may obviously be substituted or another on the shaft H.

As will be gathered from the foregoing the gravitating door 'F constitutes the motive power for operating the working parts of the machine, and by reference to Fig. 5 it will be seen that the speed which the door F descends and the working parts move is susceptible of being conveniently controlled by a party in authority. In said Fig. 5 it will i seen that the shaft H is movable endwi through its bearings l in the fixed frame I and it will also be seen that fixed to the rear side of the forward depending arm of said frame I is a piece of friction fiber 1 To the rear side of the said piece of friction fiber I is opposed a friction disk I which is fixed on the shaft H by a set screw as shown or other suitable means. The shaft H bears at its rear end against one arm of a lever I? which is fulcruined at l in the rear depending arm of the flX6(l frame I and has its oth-r arm arranged against a screw 1 bearing in the said depending arm of the fixed frame.

Now by turning the screw I in one direction, it will be seen that the lever I may be rocked to move the shaft H forward and crowd the collar I against the piece of friction fiber I with a view of diminishing the speed at which the door F descends and the working 1)a1'ts, 1ove, while by turning the screwl in the opposite direction, pressure of the collar T. against the piece P may be lessened, and the door F enabled to descend and the WOIl'l." ing parts to move more freely.

The term coin as herein employed is intended to comprehend a check or any other device through the medium of which apparatoe of the general character disclosed may be controlled.

The construction herein shown and de scribed constitutes the best embodiment of my invention of which I am cognizant, but it isobvious that in the future practice of the invention such changes or modifications may be made fairly fall within the scope of my invention as defined in the claims appended.

Having described my invention, what I claimand desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

1. In a coin-controlled operating mechanism, the combination of a frame, a shaft movable endwise in said frame, a friction piece fixed to the frame, a friction device hired on the shaft andopposed to the said friction piece, means carried by the frame for adjusting the she? endwise to increase or diminish the pressure of the friction device against the friction piece; a coin chute, a disk fixed on the shaft and having notches, a spring-actuated trigger fulcrumed at an intermediate point of its length in the frame with one -..-f its arms in position to engage the notches in the disk, and a lever fulcrumed at an inter"- mediate point of its length on the frame and having one of its arms arranged to be depressed by a coin deposited in the chute, and its other arm connected to an arm of the trigger.

' 2. In a coin-controlled operatii :3 mechanism, the combination of a casing, a coin chute, a frame fixed in the casig, a shaft 130 "movable endwiserin said frame, a friction pgce fixed to the frame, a friction device ed en. the sh-aft'and op osed to the said fI'icti-en piece, means carrie by the frame for edict ting the shaft endwise to increase or diminish the pressure of the friction device against the friction piece, a, rotary device fixed on the shaft and means engaging the rotary device and arranged when actuated by a. coin deposited in the chute to release 10 nesses.

EVERETT X. SOMERS. Witnesses: I

JAMES JrRITOHIE, SARAH J. RITCHIE. 

